The Infection
by JoeyWolf
Summary: Joey was just a normal kid... if you call living in a gunshop normal. This story contains Resident evil and Final Fantasy tones.
1. Chapter 1

The Infection

The Uprising

**Joey Wolf**

Prologue

"_September 11, 2001: a terrorist attack on the world trade center in New York City sent shockwaves across the United States and the world. People now afraid of what the government might do begin to anticipate the next world war. After an attack on the pentagon, the United States decided to invade Afghanistan in the search for the terrorist group responsible for the attacks. Eventually, they found several key members of the group but didn't have their leader yet. The US army began killing citizens that they had accused of hiding or aiding these terrorists. In 2003 the American troops moved through the middle-east to Iraq. After months of fighting the US declared war on Iraq. In November of 2003 an anonymous tip was given to the United States that Al Queda was hiding in a building in Europe. Two other tips were given to the British and the Russians. The three countries all arrived in the building around the same time. The Russians first, they were killed by the US troops, upon realizing what had happened the US soldiers tried to contact the pentagon they were taken out by a British sniper team. After two more years the rest of the world began to fall into this war. The world's biggest fear, World War III, had begun. _

_January 14, 2009: The war has gone on for a little more than five years. The war was fought on every part of the world; the soil of the United States had been stained with the blood of war for the first time in two hundred years. The nuclear war everyone had expected never came. Instead, countries looked into biological warfare. One Bio-weapon project that was started was the Cerberus project, this project was started by the United States, and it was the only project that had shown any real results. There was, however, a huge problem. Those exposed to this new weapon became, as common people called them, zombies…"_

Chapter 1

Michael, a white male in his thirty's, stood behind the counter, polishing and examining the handguns inside the display glass. He had extremely short brown spiky hair and an orange t-shirt. The sound of some random action movie played from a TV to his left. Several rifles were on the walls of his shop. He had owned the shop since 2002 and took good care of it and its merchandise. Rain fell on the front of the shop window, the droplets of water cascading down the windows slowly.

The door opened and a small teen walked in, soaked from the rain, he wore black jeans, a black t-shirt with a skull on the front of it, a collared shirt over that and a long coat, he had a black fedora that was tilted over his right eye, and a messenger bag that hung from his left shoulder across his chest and down his right side. He also wore a black bandanna around his neck He removed the fedora and the coat, placing them on the coat rack to his right. He had light olive skin, dark hazel eyes, and black short hair. He ran a hand through his wet hair so that his bangs fell over his right eye. He walked over to a door next to the TV and reached for the door knob. "Homework first," Michael shouted as the boy walked through the door.

"Gotcha boss," the boy yelled closing the door behind him. He was now standing in a hallway with two doors to either side of him, a stairway that led upstairs, and a stairway at the end that led down stairs. A sign above the door read '_gun range'_.

"No one's down there today," the boy laughed to himself. He walked to the closest door on his right. He opened the door and walked into the room. To his left were a work desk and a chair in front of it. On top of the desk were a remote control, a cup full of sharpened pencils, a pencil sharpener, and a .357 revolver with the words "_crimson rose"_ etched in dark red on the side of the barrel. A rose design was also etched into either side of the grip. To his right were a dresser and a bed. On the dresser there was a glass plaque with a letter inside of it; around the letter were pictures of him and a girl with slightly darker skin and eyes than his. Her hair was black with red highlights."_I miss you Stephanie…"_ he thought, the girl was his girlfriend who had moved to Arizona because her parents hated him. Next to the letter was a mirror. There was a medium sized window to the left of the bed's headboard. Roses in pots sat on the window seal, a UV lamp above them. He walked over to them and grabbed a pitcher of water and watered the beautifully crimson flowers, he had a fascination with these flowers since his birth but never had the chance to grow them before he had began living with Michael. He finished the watering and turned to the desk. He removed his bag and set it down next to the chair. He grabbed a remote control from the desk and pressed the power button with his thumb. A slight humming followed by a click and suddenly a TV in the top left hand corner of the room turned on.

"…the shooting in Richmond today," a newscaster on the television stated "left two dead and one severely injured, now here's Sal with traffic." The news cast continued. The boy sat at the desk and reached into his bag and pulled out a Spanish text book and a piece of paper. He wrote his name on the paper "_Joey Wolf_". Joey was a great student, straight A's, but living in a gun shop had begun to give him a reputation. The administrators at his school would have him searched every day before he entered a classroom. After a few weeks of this he began to ignore it. He finished his homework and began to pay a bit more attention to the news. All he heard was just the usual; a couple of fires, some shootings, another short on the countries failing economy, and of course the war. This war that every country fought in, a war with no allies' only enemies. He stood up and walked toward his door, opening it slowly and softly. He could hear Michael talking to someone outside in the shop. He walked out into the front of the shop and saw that Michael was talking to a soldier about a gun that the soldier wanted to buy. Joey didn't really care to notice the characteristics of the soldiers at this point, he didn't even care about their names. He grabbed a black R700 off of the rack behind the soldier and put it down on the other end of the counter from Michael and the soldier. He hopped over the counter and grabbed a rag and some oil from a box next to the cash register. He began to disassemble the rifle cleaning and lubricating every piece as he went. Once he had finished the rifle he began to walk past Michael and his customer when the soldier asked him a question.

"What do you think, kid?" he held up a 9mm Beretta and a glock. Joey looked at the guns and then at the soldier. The soldier looked confused, Joey knew guns but he felt a little insulted about being called a kid.

"Considering you're going to be watching the borders," Joey started "I'd go with a desert eagle, it has a lot more stopping power than an average side arm." Joey placed the rifle back on its rack. "Plus," He pulled one out from under the shelf "We've got this one here for sale," the gun had a black finish and Joey unloaded and reloaded it to show that everything was working. "Go on down to the shooting range and test it out." Joey went back to his side of the counter and retrieved a small handheld radio and put a head phone in his left ear. The news cast he had left in his room continued in his ear. He finished cleaning all of the rifles in the store. He watched as several soldiers walked in and out of the store asking question, buying weapons, and even selling ammo. He began to get bored with the front room and left to go upstairs. He walked into the back hallway and up the stairs. He stopped on the second floor of the three story building. A single door was to the right of the stair case. He opened the door and walked into the room. A tarp was laid out in front of a several small TV monitors that were obviously connected to cameras that watched the entire store. On top of the tarp were a suit case and a cardboard box. He sat down in front of the cardboard box and opened it and the suitcase. Inside of the box was a large amount of C4. The case had a key in the center and an ignition like switch. The switch was surrounded by small amounts of C4 so that the wires were hidden inside of it. He began placing the C4 bricks inside of the black suit case. Once he finished he closed the suit case and set it down next to several other suitcases that were similar to the first case. He repeated this process a few more times before heading back down stairs to the bathroom. The bathroom was across from his room. It had a white tile floor and a small shower as well as a sink. He undressed himself and stepped into the shower. He turned the water on letting the water run over his body for few minutes before starting to wash himself with a bar of soap. After washing himself, he shut off the water and stepped out of the shower. He grabbed a towel off of a rack across from the sink. After drying himself he wrapped the towel around his waist and walked back into his room. He walked over to a drawer and opened it. Inside was some underwear and socks. He grabbed a pair of black and white checkered underwear and put them on. He crawled into bed and lay on his back for a while before falling asleep.

Chapter 2

Joey awoke to the sound of his alarm. He turned the alarm off and got up out of bed. He got dressed in similar cloths to the ones he had worn the day before, black on black, like always. He grabbed his messenger from the desk and saw that Michael wasn't awake yet. He took his long coat and fedora off of the rack. He walked out of the door and pulled another portable radio listening to the morning news while walking toward school. The news cast began with a breaking story, riots in San Francisco and San Jose. He didn't pay much attention to riots that far off but if they came closer he might have cared. He walked down the cold, wet street and passed a newly constructed Rizen building. Rizen Corporation, a company that knew what to do and when to do it. He arrived at school and was met by a police officer. The officer was pretty normal; he patted Joey down and presented Joey with a search warrant for the messenger bag. After the search Joey walked into his classroom like every other student. He spent his time in class pretending to be interested in his work and trying to ignore the jokes about him living in a gun shop. After school ended he began walking to the shop.

"Hey punk," A stern voice came from behind him, "where's my money?" The voice belonged to a young African American who knew that Joey couldn't possibly be caring a weapon.

"What money?" Joey laughed as more of the boy's friends began to walk up. The boy drew out a switch blade and held it to Joey. "Look I don't want any problems," Joey said turning to walk away. The boy struck Joey in the back and Joey fell to the floor. The boy reached into Joey's back pocket and pulled out a wallet. It was a pretty thick wallet and the group began laughing. Joey staggered to his feet and watched as the boy went to walk away. Joey kicked the back of his knee causing it to buckle. Another one of the group swung at Joey and fell into the street, barely avoiding a car. The other three boys turned toward Joey and rushed him. Joey struck the first one in the throat and the second in the stomach with his knee. They both fell writhing in pain. The last one ran away and Joey attention turned to the original thief. Joey punched in the jaw and snatched his wallet off of the ground. A police siren came from behind him. Two officers stepped out and walked right past Joey picking up and cuffing the injured teens.

"Why don't you arrest that nigga?"

"Don't be stupid," the officer said "you all assaulted a federal worker, he was just defending himself."

Joey nodded his head and continued walking toward the shop. "Hey Joey," a deep toned voice came from behind him. It was a friend of his, Eric Xepherian, a young tall white male with a blue and black baseball cap, black dress pants and a black t-shirt. He wore glasses and a black bandana around his mouth, music could be heard from large headphones around his neck.

"Coming to the shop today Xeph?" Joey asked looking up at his friend.

"I could play a round or two," Eric said patting a case he was carrying; it held his lucky blue pool stick. He also had a messenger bag and walked to the shop with Joey. Joey opened the door and saw that there were no soldiers in the front room. Michael waved to Eric.

"Homework first," Michael said.

"Already done," Joey walked into the back room, Eric behind him. He turned to the door next to the bathroom and opened it. The room was dark; Joey reached to his right and found a light switch. He flipped it and the lights turned on; the room had even more rifles and shotguns as well as a pool table. The pool table had black wood and a red top. Eric racked up the balls and the game began.

It was getting late and they were on their last game and Eric was setting up for the winning shot. He hit the ball into the pocket. Joey was going to say something when the ground began to shake. Joey began losing his balance as the quake got stronger; he stumbled and fell backwards hitting his head on the wall behind him. He tried seeing if Eric was ok but everything started going black for him.

Chapter 3

_Joey was in a dark room, he didn't recognize it though. He held a flashlight and 9mm handgun. "Anybody here?" he asked, there was no answer except for a slight groaning noise from behind him. He turned around and aimed the flashlight at the source; it was a girl around his age. She had blonde hair, a white blouse, blue jeans and a huge problem; she had blood dripping from her mouth and on her blouse. "Are you ok?" he ran to her, she lunged at him and bit into his left arm. He dropped the flashlight and put his gun to her head, he pulled the trigger. The girl fell to the floor and died, four more people like her appeared, blood was everywhere and Joey turned to runaway but ran into another man. The man bit him in the neck and the rest of the group caught up to him. Joey felt one tear out his wind pipe…._

"Joey," Eric shook Joey violently trying to wake him up. Joey opened his eyes slowly.

"What happened?" he asked looking around the room. He stood up. "Hey Mike!"

"He left with some guy," Eric told him, "he gave this to me to give to you." Eric handed him a phone that Joey didn't recognize. As Joey took the phone; it received a text message that read:

'_Joey, lock the shop and keep Xeph with you. Turn on the news and make sure you stay alive. I can't come back for you: I've left you the shop and all its contents. Good luck…'_

"What's that supposed to mean?" Joey wondered as he turned on the news.

"Tom," the female news caster started, she was standing in front of a mushroom cloud "the explosions at an abandoned building in El Sobrante that occurred about an hour ago are still a mystery to us." A man with a slightly burned face was limping toward the reporter. "Sir could you tell us what happened?" she asked another man that was walking past her. Before he answered she was being bitten by the burned man. She screamed out in pain, blood flowing out of her shoulder in a steady flow.

"Xeph get the crates out of the room next to us, I'm going to go collect handguns and ammo out of the warehouse upstairs." Joey ordered, Eric left the room and Joey walked out into the front room. He collected the handguns from the glass cases in the front. He loaded them all as Eric walked into the room rolling a crate a bit taller and wider than him. Joey opened the side of the large crate and placed the guns inside. Joey turned around and grabbed a box that was full of clips for the 9mm handguns. Eric wheeled another crate similar to the last one out and Joey placed the box in the second crate. He grabbed two more boxes and placed them inside.

Joey and Eric pushed each crate outside and stopped them in the front of the store. The two teens walked back into the store and closed a shutter above the door. "That man that killed the reporter, he reminded me of the dream I was having before I woke up." Joey told Eric examining the rifles and the hand guns that were left in the store. Eric picked up a shotgun and loaded it with some shells that were located behind the counter. Joey walked toward the stairs and motioned for Eric to go up stairs. "Upstairs, in a cabinet, is an M60 SAW, a lot of ammo and a bipod for it." Joey was telling Eric "Set it up on the middle window in the room facing the street.

"Wait, what are we setting up for?" Eric asked running up the stairs.

"Haven't you ever watched one of those movies that Michaels always playing in the front room. I think we're dealing with zombies or something." Joey yelled walking down the stairs. He looked around once he was at the shooting range. It looked like an average shooting range; there was a cabinet at the other side of the room. He opened the cabinet and stepped inside it. There was a button inside the cabinet. He pressed the button and the inside of the cabinet began moving down. Once it stopped a sliding door opened into a large factory. Several robotic arms and conveyer belts manufacturing guns and ammunition. Joey grabbed several boxes of ammo and placed them in the elevator. He checked to make sure everything was still in working order and stepped back into the elevator. As the elevator stopped he picked up the boxes and opened the doors. He went upstairs and into the room with the bombs. Eric was sitting at the window holding a M60SAW toward the street. His finger was on the trigger and he was aiming down at the street. Joey saw that several citizens were already grabbing the guns and ammo out of the crates in the front of the store. Joey ran downstairs and grabbed the _Crimson Rose_ out of his room and a M40A3 from the front of the store. He picked up his messenger bag and emptied it of the pencils and books, replacing them with boxes of 7.62mm rounds. He had gone back upstairs and noticed that the boxes outside had been emptied and that several civilians had begun pounding on the metal door downstairs.

"Open the door you stupid kids." A civilian shouted at Joey.

"Please vacate the area or we will be forced to shot you." Joey informed the people. They began to become violent, now kicking the metal door and throwing trash cans at it. "Will you please stop this childish behavior?" Joey pleaded, a shot rang from the crowd and a bullet went flying past Joey's head. The would-be assailant stood in the street, he was a Hispanic with shorts and a white t-shirt, he began screaming curses at the two teens in the window the rest of the crowd began cheering him on as he fired. Eric and Joey ducked and moved away from the window. The shots ceased for a moment and Joey poked his head up. The shooter was reloading and Joey seized the opportunity. He aimed at the man's shoulder and fired a single shot into him. The man dropped and the crowd went silent. Joey saw yet another opportunity and Eric saw the same one. Eric took aim with the SAW as Joey pulled the bolt back to chamber the next round. The crowd saw the blood coming from the man's shoulder as he shook violently, he didn't scream much because of the shock he was going into. They began to run and Eric opened fire, the large machine gun peppering bullets behind the rioters. Joey took a shot; it found its mark on the right mirror of a car parked next to the sidewalk. The sound of gun fire and shattering glass scarred of the civilians. Eric stopped shooting and Joey pulled the rifle back into the building. He turned and saw that he still had a radio and a cell phone. He checked his phone and punched in a phone number, it began to ring.

"Hello," a female voice came from the receiver, "you have reached the voicemail box of Stephanie Candy, please leave a brief message after the beep."

"Steph," Joey started "something weird is going on and I think the phones are about to stop working, I love you."

"Did you honestly call her in the middle of this?" Eric asked, looking at Joey as though he was crazy.

"If I die in this I want her to know I love her."

"You don't even know if it's something serious."

"It might be, I mean did you see that man's face, and he was still moving Eric," Joey's voice extremely stern, "His face was half gone and he just ate that reporter."

"True, but that was a few miles away. He might not even make it over here." Eric said. Joey turned the TV on and saw that another reporter was being eaten and the camera had been dropped to the floor. It was focused on a crowd of people running from a group of people that was shuffling and stumbling after the civilians. Some of the bodies had begun to get back up, soaked in blood. "Never mind, do you realize where that is?"

"No."

"It's at a liquor store a couple of blocks from here." Eric pointed out. A street sign on the corner read 'San Pablo Avenue'. The shufflers were all heading in one direction. Joey looked out of the window and could see down the street. It had become slightly dimmer than before and Joey could see a young girl running down the street. He looked at her through his scope. She was crying and was running as fast as she could. Joey looked behind her and saw a few of the shuffling humans coming toward them.

"Eric get downstairs and open the shutter, let the girl in, and make sure the door shuts completely." Joey ordered, before Joey had finished Eric already picked up the shotgun that was lying next to the SAW and was going down the stairs. "Hey girl, get in here" Joey yelled firing at one of her pursuers. It dropped as the bullet landed in its head, a pool of blood formed under it. Joey heard the shutter door and ran downstairs holding the _Crimson Rose_ in his hand.

He looked at the girl who had walked into the room with the crates as though she was familiar with the place. She was wearing a green tank top and blue jeans, her hair was green and pink and her skin resembled Joey's slightly. She went to a lock box in the back that Joey did not know the combination to. She tapped at the keypad and opened it taking out a tube of pills, there were two black laptops behind them. She popped two in her mouth. She began to calm down and stared Joey right in the eyes.

"Who are you?" Joey asked her, he felt so confused.

"I'm a friend of Dentai's" She said calmly.

"Who?" Joey had no idea who or what she was talking about.

"Nothing," She said, "All I know is that he told me to come here and monitor the radio for you."

"Radio operator is good but who are you and who is Dentai?" Joey repeated.

"Oh, I'm sorry" she said "I'm Kami, as for Dentai, I can't tell you that." She smiled and walked upstairs and sat down in front of the radio. She turned on the radio and put the headset on listening for rescue signals or distress signals. Joey went back to the window and sat at it. He aimed the rifle out of the window and looked back toward the mob of zombies that were shuffling toward the shop. He watched as they began to scatter around the buildings searching for fresh meat. Gun shots rang out all over town. The Uprising had begun.

Chapter 4

Joey watched as Kami turned the knobs and dials on the radio. Eric was holding a sandwich he had made in the kitchen. Joey looked back out the window, since the first night phones had gone down and he had not heard from Stephanie. He slept well the night before; Kami hadn't gotten much on the radio in the past few days except distress calls that ended in screams and static. But now she seemed concentrated as though she had gotten a good call.

"Ok, Pinole Valley Road, red brick church." Kami repeated from the message. "Joey these people are still alive and they seem to be surviving pretty well. Can you go find them and escort them back here?"

"It's a good thing we have a lot of supplies. I'll go, but if any of them are bit," Joey held up the _Rose_.

"Yeah, yeah," Eric tossed in laughing.

Joey walked downstairs and grabbed his bag and the M40A3. He opened the shutter and closed it as he walked out into the cold winter air. His black coat flowed in the cold breeze. The air of the city was ripe with death and decay. He hated the smell; he lifted his bandana over his mouth and nose walking down the street. He looked back toward Eric who was aiming the SAW the opposite way of Joey's direction. Joey shouldered his messenger bag which had his rifle tied to it. He held the revolver with one hand and walked around the corner. He could see the small brick church. Not that many zombies seemed to be around which was good for Joey because he didn't feel like dealing with them. He walked to the door without a single problem. He knocked on the door, "Anybody in there," he yelled, a moan came from behind him and he saw a pale figure crawling up the steps. He did not hesitate to shot it in the face as it looked up at him. The door behind him opened and he saw that a young African American man with a 9mm was standing in the doorway. He recognized the person as his friend from school. "Ez," he exclaimed happily and slightly shocked that his friend had survived this far.

"What's up, man?" Ez smiled, Joey was still confused, everyone was smiling in the midst of a tragedy.

"Not much, just trying to help out whoever I can."

"That's cool and all." Ez looked back into the church and winced.

"What's wrong?" Joey asked becoming nervous as he peaked into the door.

"My mom got bit a few hours ago but I didn't have the guts to kill her." Ez looked back. Joey looked past Ez and saw a middle-aged black woman holding her arm. It was bleeding through a rag she was holding over it. "I already had to see Alex become one of those things." He said sadly, a tear filled his eye but he wiped it away.

"Ez, I'm sorry," Joey comforted him "I can give you a place to hide out with plenty of ammo and food."

"I can go but my moms infected." Ez stated.

"Go to the shop and I'll help your mom." Joey pointed down the street, walking past Ez and into the church. Ez left and shut the door behind him. Ez's mom was sleeping but her skin was turning pale. She stirred slightly and Joey flinched. He looked around the church and saw a huge cross with a statue of Jesus being crucified. A stained class window shown bright multi-colored light down on the savior. Joey never understood Christianity or most religions; they were all so contradictory to themselves. A noise came from behind him and he spun around, Ez's mom had stood up. She seemed extremely pale considering her heritage, Joey heard gun shots down the street and realized that Ez must have run into a few carriers. Joey took a step toward the woman and saw that her eyes were glazed over; he had seen so many of the carrier's eyes through his scope that he could tell she had turned. She shuffled toward him slowly, he advanced toward her.

She took a sudden lung toward him and he punched her in the throat. It felt like he had just punched a 2x4 plank. Her muscles must have been stiff from rigamortous. She staggered back a foot and lunged at Joey again, her teeth chomping on thin air as she reached for him. He punched her in the jaw and heard a crack as two of her quickly rotting teeth flew out and hit the floor. She didn't seem to feel the pain; she just kept coming after him. He landed a kick on her kneecap. It was stiff but it cracked just a little. He decided that hand to hand combat wasn't really working. He pulled out the _Crimson Rose_ it glimmered in the light of the stained glass. He fired a shot upwards and rolled out from under the window. The bullet landed in the middle of the window causing a rain of glass to fall onto the woman. Joey stood up from his crouched position and looked at her. Glass was protruding from her face but she didn't go down. He decided to stop playing around the fact that he had to shot her. He took aim with the _Rose_ and put a bullet in her forehead. Blood sprayed on the pews behind her and her body went flying backwards. Her limp corpse fell back in a sitting position on the pew behind her. He looked at the statue of Jesus again and frowned toward it. If this was the world's savior where was he now? Joey walked out of the building and into the streets, his destination was home.

Chapter 5

Edward was a young adult, somewhere between the age of 18 and 20, his hair was medium length. It was straight with red streaks, it fell over his right eye. He had black pants and a black combat vest with several pockets and pouches. A gas mask was tied around his left shoulder, the lenses were red. He griped the R700 tightly; the sudden outbreak began to worry him. His home would be safe but her house wouldn't. He fished into a pocket on his chest; he pulled out a small black phone and flipped it open. He dialed a number and listened as it rang. It cut to an answering machine.

"Stephanie," He said into the receiver "I really hope you were listening." He closed the phone and shook his head. He looked out from the roof and saw carriers wandering the streets. He looked to his left and saw a gap between the roofs. He ran toward it and jumped across the gap, he landed on the next roof over rolling as he landed. He looked again and saw someone who was moving faster than the carriers. He saw the man punch a carrier to the ground. The carrier began to get back up and Edward put his eye up to the scope.

"_Edward," _A high pitched female voice popped up in his head "_I think that's one of them."_

"Possibly," Edward replied, the man bent forward and placed one hand on the carriers shoulder. He pulled on its arm, ripping it off of the zombie's torso. Blood sprayed on the sidewalk as the man bit into the arm and continued walking. "It's got to be a chimera."

"_Take a shot and kill that thing."_ Edward lined up the man in his sights and pulled the trigger. A sudden gust of wind pushed the bullet to the left of the man's head. The man heard the shot and ran as fast as he could toward a library at his left. He ran inside and Edward put his rifle down and rolled onto his back. He untied the gas mask and put it over his head, it had a hood to hide his hair. He tucked his hair underneath the hood and put a helmet on top of his head. The world around him had a slight read tint now; he looked at the door that led into the grocery store that was below him. He reached for the bipod on his rifle; he extended it and placed the rifle on the edge of the building. He stood up and walked over to the door grabbing a brief case from the side of it. He ran back to the rifle and opened the brief case.

"Cire?" Edward said switching on a small radio inside of the mask.

"Edward," a medium toned voice came through the receiver. "What do you need?" Edward pulled out a small camera and a tripod. He stood the camera up and turned it on.

"Spot me; see that library keep an eye on it." Edward instructed "I spotted a chimera inside." Edward ran downstairs and walked outside the store and opened the back of a military jeep. A .50 caliber rifle was lying in the back with three clips plus the on that was already loaded. He picked up the rifle and walked back up to the roof. Once he got back on top of the roof and extended bipod setting the rifle down and replacing the stock scope with the scope from his R700. He placed the R700 on a slot connected to the camera. The slot allowed Cire to fire the rifle from his safe spot back at base.

"Everything seems in order." The aperture on the camera began to focus in on the library. "Edward I got movement in the window toward the back of the building." Edward aimed his sights at the window.

"Crow, zoom in on the window." Edward commanded.

"_Yes sir." _The girlish voice answered. The scope moved in on the window and Edward saw his target.

"I'm taking the shot." Edward announced, he pulled the trigger and felt the rifle kick back against his shoulder. The figure ducked and the window shattered as the bullet penetrated through it. The figure darted off toward the other side of the library.

"Sorry bud," Cire said "looks like we'll be here for a while." Edward sighed and kept his sights on the building.

Chapter 6

Joey walked into the shop and saw that Ez was picking up guns and looking through them. It seemed like he couldn't decide what to use. Eric was standing in the doorway and watching Ez. Joey went upstairs and saw that Kami was still messing with the radio.

"Heard anything lately?" Joey asked sitting down next to her, he removed his bag and the rifle from his back.

"Not really," She replied.

"So," Joey started "What were those pills you took?"

"They keep me calm." She said still playing with the radio.

"What about the laptops?" Joey asked.

"Just some of Dentai's files." She explained.

"On what?"

"The Cerberus project and the other things," she stopped "Please leave me to my work."

"Ok," Joey realized he was getting any where, "fine." He picked up his bag and the rifle. He carried them to the window; he opened a box of ammo and put it on the window seal. He hand loaded each round and began shooting at the infected as they wandered around the streets.

"What's going on?" Eric asked frantically running into the room.

"Nothing, just having some fun." Joey fired a hollow tip into the face of a carrier. Blood flew from its head, landing on the ground behind it. Eric walked up to the SAW and began peppering bullets at the zombies to clear out the street. "Oh, want to see something funny?"

"Sure." Eric replied. Joey grabbed a brief case and ran downstairs, once he was outside he ran toward the liquor store down the street. Zombies started shuffling toward him and he waved to Eric telling him not to fire. He walked inside and saw that they had begun to come inside. He opened the brief case and turned the key inside of it. The zombies were now inside and he dropped the case. He ran out of the back door and pushed a dumpster in front of it. He ran back to the shop and back up the stairs. "So what's going on?"

"Just watch," Joey laughed, an earth shattering boom rocked the shop as the liquor store burst in a fiery explosion. "That, my friend, is the power of a 'wolf bomb'." Eric looked amazed and mesmerized at the same time.

Chapter 7

Edward heard the explosion and saw the smoke cloud, his expression turned grim. "_Looks like we've got a demolitionist to deal with."_ Crow told him.

"Not exactly my problem," Edward noted as it began to get darker. All night and he hadn't heard or seen anything from the library. He had Cire shooting at carriers attempting to enter the library. He had to load the rifle after Cire emptied it; it was kind of funny hearing Cire over the comlink. Edward saw some carriers walking around in front of the store. He pulled out an automatic pistol and loaded it with clip that was came six inches out of the grip. A sharp edge was built into the clip to make it a melee weapon as well. He dropped down and cut the throat of one of the carriers, blood sprayed onto the ground as it spun and landed on the ground spasming from blood loss. One lunged at Edward and he punched it with a crack. It fell down and hit the cement with thud, its skull busted open as it landed. Blood pooled below it. Edward pulled the trigger sending a pepper of bullets into three of them that tried grabbing him. He ran to the side of the building and jumped back and forth on each side of the alley. He grabbed the ledge and pulled himself back up and ran back to the rifle.

"Was that necessary?" Cire asked.

"Yes." Edward laughed. Edward continued watching the library. "Switch to night vision guys, I don't think the street lights are coming on tonight. Crow get over there and see what he's doing."

"_Yes sir," _The scope suddenly became a small jet black crow. It took flight and perched itself on the broken window seal of the library. It looked around for two minutes and flew back. "_No shot but I saw something interesting, he's got a radio and is trying to send out a distress signal."_

"Good we can get his helpers to flush him out." Edward said fiddling with a portable radio located on his belt.

"Hello," a male voice came in "can somebody please help me, I'm pinned down by sniper, and I'm in the library." This message continued until 12:00 the next day an answer finally came.

"Hello this is Kami," a female voice came across the receiver.

"Kami," Edward whispered, he recognized the young scientist's voice "this is just too good." The Chimera and Kami set up an agreement that a single person was going to come and help the Chimera. After the conversation Edward switched channels and began a call to Kami. "Kami come in."

"Edward?" Kami questioned.

"Yeah," He answered "let me talk to whoever you're sending over to the library."

"Why?"

"I'm the sniper and the victim is a chimera."

"Ok okay."

"Hello?" A mild voice came over the radio.

"This is Edward Ravenblood," Edward explained "I'm currently dealing with a situation at the grocery store on Pinole Valley Road."

"My name is Joey Wolf," Joey answered "Explain the situation and I might be able to help." Edward explained what he observed the Chimera do and that was enough to convince Joey to provide help.

Chapter 8

Joey loaded his bag back up and also decided to grab a sawn-off double barrel shotgun. He placed an empty speed loader for it into his bag and it came back out full, he did the same with an 8-bullet speed loader for the "_Crimson Rose"_. Loaded them both and placed them inside of the bag. He walked out of the shop and began to walk toward the library. After a few minutes he passed the hospital which seemed to be full of carriers. After he passed the bowling alley he began to watch for the sniper. The man that called himself Edward, Joey stopped and scoped in on the roof of the grocery store. He saw a figure wearing a gas mask; he lit a flare and threw it into the street just as he was instructed to do back at the gun shop. Edward waved his right hand and pointed to the library. Joey moved in and saw several carriers had begun to walk toward him because of the flair. Edward and a seemingly automated Rifle began firing at the carriers and Joey joined in with his revolver in his right hand and the shotgun in his left.

Edward respected the boy in the coat for showing such grace, a custom revolver and speed loaders. Plus the M40A3 on his back was a nice touch. He scoped in on the messenger bag and saw that it was reloading the speed loaders. He continued to fire at the carriers and watched as the Chimera in the library didn't even notice. The parasitic creature inside the man had become hungry over night. Now that it had some carriers coming in it ignored Edward but he didn't take a shot at it yet.

Joey made it to the library and saw that a man was crouched down in the corner next to the door. The man had on a t-shirt and blue jeans; he was white male, bald and seemed pretty shaken up. "Were you the one that called Kami? If so I killed the sniper and I can take you somewhere safe."

"You got the sniper?" The man asked timidly and Joey nodded. "Good, lead the way."

Joey turned and led him out into the open. After a few feet the man jumped toward Joey but Joey already heard the man's irregular foot steps and stepped to the side. Once the man stood back up Joey put a .357 bullet into the man's right eye. The man began to get up and Joey looked at him in shock.

Edward took Crow off of the .50 caliber rifle and placed him on the R700. Edward loaded a bullet with a clear tip; inside of the tip was a greenish liquid. Edward fired once at the man as he stood up and watched as he fell down, the man's body slowly dissolved and Edward stood up. He packed the camera and left the .50 caliber rifle. He ran down to the jeep and drove it over to the library.

Joey saw the jeep pull up as the body disappeared. The only thing left was a curled up, spider-like, parasite lying on the ground. It was slightly disfigured but it was obviously the thing that caused the man to become what he was. Joey opened the passenger side and saw that Edward had removed his mask, Joey liked Edwards hair and choice of weapon.

"So," Edward started "what do you do for living?"

"I maintain and make guns," Joey laughed."

"Really?" Edward questioned "If only you I was a girl I might be in love."

"Too bad I already have someone," Joey noted continuing his laughter as they began to drive toward the gun shop.

"What's her name?" Edward asked solemnly.

"Stephanie," Joey frowned "Stephanie Candy."

"Are you serious?" Edward was surprised.

"Why? What's wrong?" Joey asked scarred.

"I know her," Edward told him. "If you're wondering she's safe. I trained her and told her where to go in case of this kind of emergency."

"That's a relief but who are you?"

"Edward Ravenblood, I work for and run Rizen Corporation."

"That's impossible," Joey said shocked.

"If I get us out I'll show you," Edward smiled. Joey didn't believe Edward but the way Edward was handling those weapons and the he killed that man he must at least work for Rizen. Edward suddenly stopped the car and got out.

Chapter 9

"What are you doing?" Joey asked noticing that they had stopped at the hospital. Edward opened the back of the jeep and grabbed a small portable camera and placed it across the street in a bush. Carriers began closing in and Joey noticed they were not shuffling as much. Some had begun walking quiet briskly and smoothly. Joey picked up his rifle and loaded a few rounds. Edward got back into the jeep.

"Cire," he said after switching the jeep's radio on, "I placed a few camera's around the hospital so keep an eye out for Raven corps' agents or anyone entering this building."

"Who's Cire?" Joey asked putting a round in one of the carriers.

"Cire is my correspondent back at Rizen, while you were on the way to the library he told me that Steph arrived at the city." Joey breathed a sigh of relief at this news and pulled the trigger again.

"Rizen Corp city?"

"Pretty much, it's not that great. All it is, is proof that our technology and progress has finally given us something to be proud of. There's no infection up there and absolutely great conditions." Edward said smiling and turning the jeep back on.

"So why are you here instead of staying safe up there?" Sat back in the jeep and placed his rifle behind him. Edward handed him a M16 from the back seat. Several carriers had stumbled into the road ahead of them and Joey began picking them off one by one.

"I'm a sniper," Edward answered, "and it seems you are too, we can't sit back when we could be covering someone's ass or assassinating some jerk that deserves it. That's why I'm here; this whole thing is Raven corps fault."

"How is it there fault?" The M16 ran dry and Joey tossed it back into the back seat. Edward stopped the jeep outside of the shop. He stepped out and grabbed his rifle and some other bags as well as some ammunition.

"I'll tell you later," Edward shouldered his bags and walked toward the shops door. He pulled up the metal shutter and Joey followed him in. He placed his bags down on a table in the front room. He pulled out a laptop and a small radio set. He turned the radio on and connected it to a cable that led into the back of the laptop. He began typing away at the laptop and a video feed showed up. A man about 21, he had hair that arced around his forehead and glasses like Eric's, showed up on the screen. He spoke into a headset.

"Cire here," the man spoke "What do you need Edward?"

"I found a place to set up," Edward informed Cire "I'm in a gun shop with that boy." Joey stepped into the view of the camera and Cire's face lit up with a smile.

"Did you go back in time?" Cire laughed. "He looks just like you did back at the academy." Eric walked in and Edward began to laugh to. "Maybe I did." Edward told him, Joey and Eric had a resemblance to Edward and Cire when they were back in school together.

"You gonna introduce me?"

"I'm Eric Xepharian," Eric said proudly to his elders. "Who are you guys?"

"We work for Rizen Corporation," Cire explained. "Edward will explain everything to you…" Cire stopped looking at something on a screen to his right. "Edward, good placement of those camera's, we got a hit."

"Whatcha got big guy?"

"It looks like a twelve man team on the front entrance and two choppers on the roof. They seem to be a Raven Corp strike and search team." "Well then it looks like we got some work to do." Edward said.

"What kind of work is this?" Eric asked.

"The kind of work that could get us out Xeph," Joey said "They said a helicopter that means escape."

"The short one knows what he's talking about," Cire commented toward Edward.

"Hey," Edward groaned "I used to be that short." Joey and Eric watched the two go at it for a minute about some academy a long time ago when they were young and the competition they had.

"So," Joey began, Edward snapped out of his conversation with Cire to pay attention to Joey "What exactly should we be doing?"

"Well," Cire jumped in "it seems that they're trying to set up a perimeter so," he paused and a map appeared to the side of him, a green rectangle was around a path that led to the side of the bowling alley across the street from the hospital. "This path just gave me an idea, if Edward and Joey can get on the roof of the bowling alley they can provide good cover while Eric and whoever else is with you infiltrates the back of the hospital."

Kami and Ez both walked in behind Eric and stayed quiet while Cire continued to explain the plan. Kami turned around and began looking through guns as Cire and Edward said their goodbyes. "I have some things for you guys," Edward said holding out several small radios to the group. "Joey I want you to give Kami whatever ammo you can ok?" Joey nodded and led Kami down to the gun range's elevator.

"All the ammo you need can be made just let me know.." Joey stopped as she walked over and began fiddling with different types of ammo. He left her alone when he saw him wave him off. He went back upstairs and saw that Eric had pulled the SAW out of the window and was carrying it and his shotgun. Ez had found an M16 and was looking around for ammo. Edward seemed to be looking around for a rifle. "Edward, come with me I've gotten something you might want to see." Joey smiled as he led Edward into the room next to his own. He turned on the light and there were several weapons along the walls and boxes full of ammo. Joey grabbed a brand new .50 Caliber rifle off of the wall and handed it to Edward, he walked over to a red sheet that was covering a shelf, Joey ripped it off and it revealed a WWII Thompson and several round clips for it. Joey dropped the shotgun and removed his speed loader for it from the bag. He pulled the Thompson from the wall and it seemed to shimmer in the light.

"Where did you get that?" Edward asked in awe.

"I made it myself, this gun has never jammed or backfired," Joey smiled proudly as he loaded the powerful gun. Joey looked at it, it had a vertical grip under the front of the barrel, and Edward thought Joey looked like an old mobster from the 40's or something. Joey shoved more ammo for his guns into his bag and walked out into the front room. Kami was there holding the 'Crimson Rose' in her hands. "How did you get that?" Joey asked as he flipped the reload chamber out, it now held ten shots instead of eight. She handed him three speed loaders the bullets had red tips.

"I took it back in the elevator; the red tips mean incendiary explosive rounds." Kami explained.

"Looks like you're not the only gunsmith around here." Ez laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Joey asked as Kami produced a box of ammo for his rifle. He opened it and saw that the bullets had blue tips. "The bullets in that box will literally pierce the enemies' armor twice over." Kami smiled triumphantly.

A sudden banging came at the shutter and Joey jumped aiming the Thompson at the metal shutter. Groans could be heard as the banging became stronger. "I think those things found us Ez said aiming at the shutter, he pulled the trigger sending two bursts into the shutter. Holes ripped into it. The sound of glass shattering came from behind the shutter. "That seemed like a good idea at the time."

"You guys?" Joey looked around, "What should we do?" Edward tied the large rifle around his back and shoved several clips for it. He aimed his automatic pistol to the door.

"I think we need to fight our way out." Eric said and began to fire into the door, large holes ripped into the shutter and several zombies fell back as the rest began to fire into the crowd. Kami picked up two pistols and joined in on the firing. Joey dropped out a clip and reloaded the Thompson. He pulled out the 'Rose' and began to fire with it, Eric dropped the SAW and reached for his shotgun. After the horde began to thin out Edward ran up to the door and lifted the shutter. He punched one carrier off of the front steps of the shop and ran toward the jeep. Edward started it as the rest of the group exited the building and shuffled into it. Joey threw his two rifles into the jeep as well as his messenger bag. He and Eric ran back into the building to grab some of the suit cases and Joey grabbed a rose and a picture of him and Stephanie at a school dance before she moved. They got into the jeep and Edward drove down the street to a elementary school where the path began. Kami, Ez, and Eric all went down the main road toward the hospital, they took the suitcases. Joey and Edward ran toward the bowling alley, once they arrived they found a ladder to the side of the building, it was getting late.

They got onto the roof and Edward loaded the .50 caliber Rifle. Joey loaded the blue tipped rounds into the M40A3. "I got a shot on one man on the second floor of the building." Joey told Edward. Edward put his own scope on the rifle and looked through it.

"Crow zoom in on the third floor, right office." Edward said, there was a whirring and Edward put his finger on the trigger. Joey looked out and saw the other three on the left side of the building.

"I'm placing a bomb here," Eric came in over the radio as the other two ran to the back of the building.

"Go for it," Edward answered lowering the rifle to the bottom of the building. The bomb was set and it was placed at the corner of the building. It was quiet for a full minute and then a sudden explosion and Edward fired as the explosion went off. The two soldiers at the bottom of the building dropped dead as Edward and Joey put bullets into their heads. The two returned to their original targets and pulled the triggers. They dropped as well, Eric and his group moved in. Joey and Edward dropped their rifles and dropped down the ladder. They began to run across the street and Joey noticed a sniper on the roof. He stopped and aimed the Thompson upwards; he pulled the trigger and saw the sniper duck back. The Thompson kicked back hard but Joey held it steady. As Edward got to the door and a soldier stepped through the door with a 12-gauge shotgun. Edward put a burst into his chest. He fell backwards but didn't go down; Joey aimed the Thompson at the soldier and pulled the trigger. The soldier fell on his back and tried to get up. Edward hit the soldier in the jugular with his bladed clip. Blood spewed onto the tiled floor of the hospitals front reception area.

Chapter 10

Joey looked around the reception area. The front desk had three computers and several drawers full of medical records and other documents. A sign to both sides of it gave directions to each wing of the hospital. The hospital had eight floors, Joey saw a soldier running down the hallway toward the desk. The soldier began to fire at Joey and he ducked behind the desk. Joey fired into the air and peaked his head out. the soldier had dropped to his back to dodge the shots that he thought were coming toward him. He was standng back up when Joey shot his rifle out of his hand. It was a simple M-16, it clanked to the floor and the soldier drew his pistol. Edward fired at the soldier and he dropped to the ground bleeding from his arm. "Who do you work for?" Edward asked walking toward the soldier.

"Raven Corp." The soldier said shakily, holding his arm he began to go into shock. Joey walked up and shot the soldier in the head with his revolver. Edward walked toward the elevator.

"Where are you going?" Joey asked him pointing the revolver toward him.

"Fifth floor," Edward said aiming his pistol at Joey, "I need to get something, I want you to get up to the roof with everyone else."

"Ok," Joey said lowering his weapon, "Just remember, if you die we're stuck here." Edward just smiled as the doors closed. Joey turned and saw that Eric was walking toward him.

"Joey," Ez started "Where's the other guy?"

"He had to go get something from upstairs, he wants us to meet him upstairs." Joey said, he saw more soldiers coming up behind Eric, he began to fire toward them with both of his guns as the elevator opened to reveal more soldiers. The other three fired into the elevator killing the soldiers, they stepped in and Joey pressed the button to shut it.

"Joey what are you doing?" Eric asked as the door shut. Joey ran down the hall toward the stairs and was chased by a hail of bullets. He felt the searing pain of a bullet grazing his left arm. He turned the corner and reloaded his Thompson. He Peeked around the corner with the powerful machine gun and fired into the soldiers. Two fell down while the others kept coming. Joey dropped the Thompson, pulling out the 'Rose' and a combat knife. As the soldiers rounded the corner he shot one in the head and stabbed the next in the neck, using him as a shield from the last soldier. He threw the dead one toward the last guy. He fell back and Joey shot him in the neck, blood sprayed from the back and pieces of flesh and shattered bone landed on the floor. Joey wiped off the knife and placed it back into its sheath under his coat. He picked up the Thompson and noticed he only had two more clips for it. He saw more soldiers running toward him and he started down the hallway. His feet pounded against the tile as he ran toward an exit sign. To his right was a flight of stairs, he opened the fire door that led to the stairs. He looked up and noticed the height of the building, eight floors looked a lot larger from the inside. He ran up the first flight and heard gunfire behind him. The soldiers had began to run up after him, at the third floor he exited the stair way and entered a hall. He was in the pediatrics department, he walked down the hall and found a gurney and a few tables. He began stacking the tables in front of the stair way entrance. Once the door was barricaded he turned and tried to find another set of stairs. A slight crying noise was coming from a room a few feet in front of him. He walked toward the room, holding Thompson toward the curtain, he pulled the curtain back and saw a young girl laying on the hospital bed. She was crying and once she had noticed Joey she began to scream. Joey watched as she violently shook, large waves of blond hair flew through the air as she cried and convulsed.

"Please kill me!" The girl screamed. Joey didn't hesitate, he lifted the rovolver and shot her in the head. She lay there silent for a moment. Her chest began to move and little bumps underneath her skin began to show. They pulsed and moved. Joey began to back away as the small bumps got bigger. Eventually they burst out of her skin. The small creatures were now crawling out of her, they were advancing on Joey and he noticed they were spider-like in appearance. He shot a few of them and began to run, he turned and heard the pounding from the door with the tables blocking it. The spiders start swarming toward the door except one which jumped toward Joey. Joey shot it and saw as it crumpled and began to dissolve into the ground. He heard the soldiers screaming from the stair well. He turned around and saw a soldier slowly walking toward him. There was a bullet hole in his head, it was the soldier that Edward had shot earlier. It seemed so unreal considering the .50 caliber bullet through his head hadn't taken it completely off. The soldier ran toward Joey and punched him, Joey dropped his gun as he fell to the floor. Joey reached into his bag and drew his revolver. He shot the an twice and realized that he was out of bullets. The man didn't seem to flinch as the .357 rounds ripped into his chest. Joey reached for a speed loader and noticed the red tips on his bullets. He loaded it and pulled the trigger. A single bullet hit the man in the chest and it exploded, blood and charred flesh fell away from the soldier and a large spider-like creature was twitching on the floor. Joey picked up the Thompson and shot the creature once with it, it spasmed and died. Joey looked and saw another stair way that led upstairs. He went up to the to the eighth floor and noticed a separate stair way that led to the roof. He stepped toward it and saw that it was slightly opened. He opened and was met by two soldiers, he punched the first on and was hit in the ribs with the butt of an M16. The blow knocked the wind out of Joey for a second and Joey struck the soldier with his elbow. Joey heard a gun shot and felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder. He swung out with his right arm and found the face of one of the soldiers. The one that had shot him was now advancing toward him with a glock that seemed to have been made in his own shop. Joey dropped to his knees and looked around the roof. A man in a grey suit stood by one of the helicopters and a few more soldiers were standing around him. As well as twenty more that were exiting the second helicopter. The man had long black hair and pale complexion. He was standing behind three people on there knees. Joeys eyes went wide with horror, the three were his friends. Kami was abnormally calm, most likely due to the medication, but Eric and Ez seemed a little worried. Joey felt himself being hand cuffed and the soldier dragged him over to his friends. Joey looked up and saw the man holding a rifle, the back stock was an arm brace that the man put his arm in. The trigger must have been inside of the arm brace. The man pointed to Joey and he watched as a soldier walked over. The soldier lifted the M16 and struck Joey in the face, he hit the ground hard and passed out.

Chapter 11

Edward picked up the vial and took the three disks out of the laptop on the desk. He stuffed the disks and vial into a small suitcase and walked out of the office. Edward began jogging, he realized that Crowley would probably capture his friends but he figured he might be able to save them if he got there fast enough. Edward looked out of the window next to the elevator, he opened and looked up. He could see a rail on the side of the roof and he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a cylinder the the size of a large soda can. It had a lever on the side of it, he pulled it out and the cylinder now had a handle and a trigger. He fished into one of his pockets and found a grappling hook, he loaded it into the cylinder, aimed at the rail and pulled the trigger. He pressed a button on the side of the handle and felt the grappling gun pull upwards. He flew upwards and flipped over the railing. He had landed behind a helicopter and was now hidden. He stepped into the vehicle and walked toward the pilots. He pulled out his pistol and used the knife on the end two stab both pilots. His movements were so fast neither of them had time to call for help. He looked out and saw Crowley standing over an unconscious Joey. Edward stepped out of the side of the chopper that he had entered. He repeated his last process in the other one and stepped out into the open. The soldiers all aimed at Edward as he put his hands up, the suitcase in the air and his pistol on the floor.

"Hold you're fire men," Crowley said, running his hand through his hair and raising the rifle up to Edward. "Is this what I think it is?" He laughed "why, you've brought right to me."

"Indeed," Edward said "but it's not yours remember, my company designed it and we'll keep it." Crowley rested the tip of the barrel against Edward's head but Edward didn't flinch.

"Do you know what's in these bullet?" Crowley asked.

"No," Edward answered "enlighten me."

"These bullets," Crowley started holding up a clear tipped bullet with a green liquid inside "will destroy any Chimera, sound familiar."

Edwards eyes widened as Crowley pulled the trigger. A loud shot echoed through the night as Edward fell. Kami screamed which caused Joey to wake up suddenly and look toward Crowley. Joey screamed as Edward hit the floor, a soldier advanced toward him with a pistol and put to his head. He ducked as the gun was fired and the bullet hit his cuffs. His left arm dropped limp and reached for his knife. Drawing the knife he drove it into his attackers chest and the other soldiers began to advance. Crowley pulled out a 9mm Beretta and put it to Ez's head. Joey stopped as his knife was stuck into the throat of a soldier. He looked at Crowley and shook his head, Crowley grinned and pulled the trigger, blood splattered onto the floor in front of Ez as he fell into it. Crowley began laughing as Joey withdrew the knife from his previous victim. He threw the knife at Crowley but he ducked and it landed in between the eyes of a soldier standing behind him. Crowley ran toward Joey and was in front of him in seconds. Joey's eyes went wide as Crowley struck him in the same place as his bullet wound sending him to the floor in pain. Joey reached into his bag and found his revolver. He drew it and the barrels of the two guns met. Joey pulled the trigger and fell back, the bullet ripped threw the Rifle and up into Crowley's arm. Crowley stumbled back holding his destroyed arm and laughing as the rifle fell to the floor.

"Do you know who I am," Crowley said, "I am James Crowley, agent O for Raven Corp." His arm suddenly began to pulse and shape around the rifle. Joey heard the metal cracking and bending. the barrel of the rifle was protruding from his mostly disfigured and destroyed hand. His arm now had pieces of metal sticking out of his skin. He aimed his disfigured arm at Joey and he rolled to the side as a shot went off. Joey aimed his gun at Crowley and pulled the trigger twice. The bullets found themselves in Crowley's chest, Crowley stumbled back holding his chest. He shot at Joey but Joey jumped to the side again. Crowley rushed toward him and punched him in the gut. Joey stumbled back and fell over the railing. Joey grabbed the side of the building and held himself up with one hand.

"Joey!" Eric and Kami exclaimed, looking on in horror. Joey watched as Crowley advanced toward him. A loud gunshot could be heard from the street below. Crowley stumbled back and fell to the floor, Joey heard screeching tires as Crowley stood up and began to fire at the vehicle. Joey saw Crowley's 9mm on the floor in front of him. He put away the "_Crimson Rose"_ and grabbed the smaller hand gun. He lifted himself up and now was holding the top rail. He shot Crowley's mutated arm twice and once in the head. Crowley stumbled back and looked at Joey. Joey jumped over the rail and shot Crowley a couple more times. Someone was standing behind Crowley and Joey smiled.

It was Edward, The hole in his head had dissappeared. "So," Edward started with a smirk, "Where were we?" He lifted his arms into a light fighting stance.

"That should have killed you!" Crowley exclaimed aiming at Edward. Edward hit Crowley in the jaw and followed through with a swift strike to his ribs. "You can't kill me." Crowly laughed "I'm a Chimera, only another of my calibur could kill me." Joey shot him in the shoulder and then kicked in the back of the head. Crowley fell to the floor with a thump. The soldiers began to advance toward Joey with the M16s. Joey turned and watched as several soldiers began to fall. Their bones could be seen extending from their arms. They fell, broken collar bones and spinal chords, and a young woman stood in their place. She held a scopeless .50 calibur rifle and a M40A3. She tossed the smaller rifle to Joey and he caught it, he pulled the bolt back to load the rifle and noticed the rifle already had bullets loaded into it. They had blue tips, Joey looked back up toward the girl. Her hair resembled Edward and so did her clothingexcept the black mask that covered her face, she handed the .50 calibur rifle to Edward and looked at Crowley.

"I think I match that criteria Crowley." She stated as her arms suddenly had blades protruding from her wrists and feet.

_"She's a Chimera too!?"_ Joey thought as he untied Eric and Kami, the two of them ran toward the helicopter.

"Crow," Crowley rose to his feet and looked at the girl. He suddenly became more savage. "Die!" He charged her, she jumped up and kicked him in his mutated arm. The arm began to pulse as he fell back toward the railing. She attempted an ax kick but Crowley jumped back, his chest was bleeding with a deep cut as he bumped the railing. Crow grabbed his normal arm and pulled him back landing one of her wrist blades in his back. He screamed and she pulled the spider like parasite from inside of him. She pulled her mask down as the creature shrunk. She consumed it and Edward grabbed Crowley's body. He was still slightly alive, Edward was ready to toss him over the railing when Joey stopped him.

"He killed Ez," Joey said with a small tear in his eye. "He deserves this." Joey pressed the '_Crimson Rose' _against his forehead. He placed his hand on the trigger and fired, Crowley's body flew backwards and over the railing. Edward looked at Joey and shruged his shoulders. Crow stepped toward Edward and suddenly transformed into a scope. At this point Joey couldn't be surprised anymore. Edward pointed toward the helicopter which Kami was already starting up. The two stepped into the helicopter and Joey looked out of the window at the Thompson on the floor of the roof. He smiled and laughed as the aircraft lifted and flew away from his home town.

After a few hours Joey heard a beeping noise from the front of the helicopter. "What is it?" Joey asked.

"We're out of fuel..." Edward said gloomily. Joey's eyes widened as he felt the aircraft slowly dropping. The chopper hit the outside of a small city close to the Risen corporation city...

The End?

Don't bet on it.


	2. City of Death

City of Death

Chapter 1

Joey's eyes widened as he felt the helicopter falling toward the ground. He saw as Edward grabbed his .50 caliber rifle and opened the side door. Joey saw a building in the distance and then a sudden crunching of branches and cracking trees engulfed his ears. He felt a strong force send him to the ground. Suddenly he found himself being dragged out of the wreckage. Shards of metal and burning trees surrounded the crash sight. He found the energy to stand and noticed he still had his messenger bag. He noticed a change in climate in the area around him. He removed his long trench coat and realized what had happened. "Xeph!" Joey exclaimed searching for his friend.

"I'm fine, Joey." Eric said as he stepped out of the crashed aircraft. He had a few small cuts and bruises. He still had the shotgun and his 9mm Berretta. Kami seemed fine as well. Not a lot of damage on her part, Edward on the other hand was pretty banged up. He was standing behind Joey with a broken arm and his ankle was twisted. His wounds healed fairly quickly as he limped over to some broken metal.

"Joey," Edward said making a gesture that called his attention. Edward bent over and picked up some of the metal. "We're gonna run out of ammo soon, so here." Edward pulled out a small device and ran it over the metal. A red light seemed to scan over the objects and suddenly they morphed into katanas.

"Why don't you just make some ammo," Joey asked.

"I can't make the powder with this, just solid metal." Edward explained handing him one. Kami was doing the same thing with Eric, except she had throwing daggers and shurieken and Eric had a machete. Joey heard a low moaning, he turned and saw two zombies walking toward them. They began a slow sloppy jog, the light from the small flames showed their features. One had grey hair and was about 60 years of age. The other had short black hair. Joey laughed and realized who they were. He noticed something was wrong though, they were running. Joey grabbed the katana and cut down the grey haired male. Edward put a burst from his handgun into the black haired ones chest. She dropped to the floor and her blood soaked into the soil. Joey looked around the area and saw that more of the running zombies were comming for them. "Move," Edward said running into the trees and the rest followed. After a while they made their way into the deserted city. Joey looked around with his M40A3 and checked the streets. A few carriers were stumbling around the street and Joey decided not to shoot any of them. "If their able to run, shooting them would be a bad idea. Sound would bring them here pretty fast."

"I agree," Eric said pulling out the machete. He looked at a carrier that stumbled really close. Joey watched as Edward grabbed Eric's arm. "What?"

"Now that they can run," Edward started "their hearts actually pump blood because their original wounds have healed up."

"That means chest shots and bleeding to death will kill them." Eric noted. Edward and Kami nodded. Suddenly running zombies didn't seem all that bad. But Joey was still very nervous, runners meant more danger. If they were cornered it would be over. Joey looked to the right of the street. It was lined with building, one of which was a diner. Edward pulled his gas mask over his face again; he pressed a button on his belt.

"Cire," he said into the mic located in his mask.

"Yes," Cire's voice came in; the rest of the group could faintly here him.

"We need an evac chopper now."

"One moment," Cire said, it was silent for a few minutes. "The only building with helicopter access is a large school in the area. One problem, we don't have any choppers prepped or gassed. M has forbidden travel out of the city for containment reasons. I need his permission before I can get one. Then I need a pilot."

"What do you mean forbidden?" Edward asked, "Tell him his little brother needs it."

"That brother thing gets him every time." Cire laughed.

"Get Will to fly for us."

"Got it, I'll radio when it's ready."

"Thanks," Edward said. He turned to the group.

"So," Kami said, "What now?"

"We need to make it to the school across town." Edward said. "If I remember correctly it's about twenty miles from here."

"Well why are we waiting," Joey put in, "I think we should start by moving in to that diner over there." Joey pointed to a diner with a side door off to the right of the street. He looked at everyone else and they seemed to agree. They crossed the street and opened the door, no one was inside. Kami came in last and closed the door.

Chapter 2

Cire stood up from his desk and walked out of his office. The office was simple; a desk with his laptop on it, but it also had a radio and a rifle on a tripod that resembled the camera that Edward had on the roof. He walked down the white hallway of the office building. He walked toward the elevator at the end of the hallway. He pressed the button on the side of the elevator door and it opened. He stepped inside, two men were inside. They wore business attire; Cire hit the button for 23rd floor. The two men stepped out of the elevator on their respective floor. Cire stepped out on his floor. There were three rooms only on this floor; Edward's office, M's office, and Dentai's lab. The lab was always locked it seemed, and Edward's office was locked as well. M's door was open, Cire walked into the office and M was sitting in a chair looking over some paper work. He had medium length bright blond hair. It covered his eyes and he was constantly brushing it back. He wore black slacks and a white dress shirt. Over that was a black vest, he had thin glasses and his skin was white.

"Hello Cire," M said smiling.

"M," Cire started "Edward and a small group of civilians need an evac chopper in a city not to far from here. They are in route to a school that seemed like a good spot to be picked up."

"How'd they get this far?" M asked.

"They stole a chopper from Raven Corp. but it ran out of fuel and crashed."

"The bastards probably sabotaged it. Get my personal chopper prepped, William is at home. Phone him and let him know we need him."

"After that?" Cire asked.

"After that we go and pick them up."

"We?"

"Yes," Michael smiled "you're coming too."

"Me? Leave the office." Cire said surprised. "I haven't been in the field for years."

"That's the point." M said smiling and pushing Cire out of his office. "Go get geared up."

"Yes Sir," Cire smiled back.

Chapter 3

Joey was loading the M40A3 with fresh ammo. The blue tips looked nice next to the green rifle. He looked at the 9mm that he took from Ez's body. _"Why you EZ?" _Joey thought, _"What made him kill you? That bastard had no reason, it should have been me."_

"Joey?" Eric said noticing Joey's look, "It's not your fault you know."

"I know but we were supposed to protect him Xeph, he should be right here holding this pistol," Joey held up the 9mm.

"I know but if he was still here would it make a difference?" Eric asked.

"I guess not," Joey thought, "a larger group could get us killed."

"You're talking could get us killed," Kami chimed in swallowing another pill."

"All of you quiet," Edward snapped at them. He looked out the window and watched the carriers shuffle around. Suddenly they began running toward something. "Guys, they could be chasing someone. Joey on the roof, Eric and Kami behind the counter, and Crow spot for Joey."

"What do you mean spot?" Joey asked, Edward handed him the scope from his rifle. Joey took it, and removed his current scope. Joey ran outside replacing the scope. _"What did he mean by Crow?"_

_"I'm right here." _He could hear Crow's girlish voice in his head.

"Am I going crazy?" He asked himself.

_"No,"_ She said _"Just tell me what to do and I'll do it, specifically zooming and wind adjustments."_

"Wait," He said climbing onto the roof, "You're the scope?"

_"Yes,"_ She answered, Edward had stepped out of the door. The carriers ran past as though they didn't care. He cut one as it past him by. It fell down on its back and Edward stabbed it in the chest. It spasmed and died. Joey looked down the street toward the area that they were running to.

"Zoom in on that mass of carriers." He ordered Crow, she did as she was told and he saw a teenage boy with a white hooded sweatshirt and black shorts. He had an extremely thin rapier, he swung it and it cut through everything it touched.

_"What is that noise?" _Crow asked, Joey didn't hear anything accept the screeches of the carriers and their feet on the pavement. _"It sounds like it's coming from that sword."_ Joey closed his eyes. Suddenly he could hear a slight ringing; he opened his eyes and watched the boy cut down every carrier that came near him. Joey shot one that was coming behind him. The boy stabbed one in the head and looked toward Joey. Joey froze and he could feel the boy's eyes piercing his soul. The boy turned and ran, the carriers chased him. Edward walked back inside and Joey got off of the roof.

"We have to help him." Joey exclaimed.

"I agree," Edward added, "He seemed like he could be a huge help."

"Who?" Eric asked.

"A young teenage male," Edward started "he used a rapier, it cut like a razor through rice paper."

"Plus," Joey noted "The carriers are attracted to him. His sword created a whistling noise, as though it sung."

"So," Eric said "we're gonna risk our lives to chase after a psycho with a singing blade?" Joey and Edward nodded and Kami looked at Eric with pleading eyes.

"You in?" Joey asked.

"I'm in," Eric answered. The group stepped out of the diner and ran toward the area that all the carriers were running to.

Chapter 4

DJ ran from the carriers, that sniper saved this humans life. Aiden had been a simple high school student except his martial arts training put his body in perfect condition for this possession. DJ lifted the rapier and it transformed into a three bladed Kurisagama but instead of a small ball at the other end it was another three bladed kama. At the tip of each were a wing like design, one angel and one demon. He threw the demon winged kama at a carrier and it landed in its shoulder with a wet smack. He pulled the chain and the zombie fell forward, his collar bone ripped out of his skin and hit the floor before he did, blood splattered over the ground. DJ swung the angel winged kama in a circular motion behind him. The carriers didn't stop coming as the blade whistled. He pulled the chains together and the kamas formed on long double edged scythe. He spun it around his body as he ran even farther from the carriers. One slowly caught up to DJ and bit his shoulder. Aiden's body bled profusily from the wound but it didn't bother DJ. DJ realized he was infected and he would need a new body soon. He just hoped that body would be like the rest. In good shape and easy to control.

-------------

Joey ran ahead of the group and noticed the large group of carriers out side of a small building. He could still here the whistling. He ran in to the crowd with the katana and began cutting down the helpless zombies. After most of them were dead he went inside. Crow stayed behind with the rest outside.

"Kid," Joey said, "we're with Rizen Corporation, we can get you out of here safely."

"No you can't," a light voice came from his right. He looked, the boy had been bitten on his shoulder, blood trickled down his arm. He walked toward the boy and saw that the boy was twirling a knife in his good hand. He dropped it and closed his eyes.

"Damn it," Joey said "We really could have used someone like that." He turned around and felt a cold wind blow on his back. He looked around and noticed all the windows were closed and the door was shut.

_"You need help you say?"_ A voice came inside his head. _"I can help you young man."_ Joey drew the katana and looked around. The boy's body was gone and so was the knife. _"On your left."_ Joey turned and saw the boy lunging at him. He stabbed the hooded teen and followed through by pulling the sword out of his gut and cutting deep into his neck.

_"Who are you,"_ Joey asked.

_"My name is DJ," _The voice said_ "I've been jumping from body to body for almost two millenium now."_

_"How?"_

_"My people found a way to harness the powers of heaven and hell. We harnessed the power of the Reaper."_

_"So you're a reaper."_

_"In a way, my father was a reaper in his own respects and my mother was a human who had mastered the power of an angel."_

_"That's impossible."_

_"Is that what you think?"_ Joey's katana suddenly shattered and a white shimmering rapier appeared in his hand. _"Think of a blade."_ Joey started with a simple katana, it appeared and the handguard depicted two wings an angels and a demons. Joey sheathed the katana and walked out of the building. _"Soon, we will become one."_

_"What,"_ Joey asked surprised.

_"In few months one of us will be given all of the others thoughts and abilities._" DJ explained to him.

_"One of us?" _Joey questioned.

_"Yes," _DJ answered _"Unfortunatly one of us must die."_

_"Why are you doing this?"_

_"I want to help."_

_"By killing me?"_

_"Unfortunatly," _DJ's voice became sad _"when I chose you I signed over my exsistence."_

_"So you will die?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Why would you do that?"_

_"You'll learn soon enough."_ Joey was confused. He left the building and regrouped with the rest.

"What happened," Edward asked him looking around for the boy.

"He was bitten,"Joey told them that he had hidden the rapier before his death.

"How did your katana get that design?" Kami said pointing to the wings. Joey shrugged his shoulders. Edward gave him a wierd look, but before he could say anything a carrier was sceaming and running in their direction. Joey unsheathed the katana and cut him. The singing sound could be heard as he slashed through its skin and bone. Suddenly more carriers came toward him. He thought of a weapon with a little more reach, his katana suddenly began to grow longer, it was now about 68in. long and he swung it at a large group of them.

"Hey look," Eric said "a restuarant, why don't we hide there."

"Good idea," Kami said. The group ran inside and shut the door. The restuarant looked like any other fast food restuarant. Joey looked around and noticed a mascot was standing next to the counter, it was a clown with red spiky hair and black clothing that appeared to be leather. His blade shortened back to normal, he looked at the group when he suddenly had this sense something was behind. He turned and saw the mascot wasn't a statue it had a meat cleaver and swung it down toward Joey. Edward got in the way of the swing and the cleaver caught in his collar bone. He fell and the clown laughed horidly.

"One down," he chuckled "now it's your turn." He lifted the cleaver again. Joey put the _'Crimson Rose'_ to his chest. He pulled the trigger sending him flying back and over the counter. between the blood on the counter and cracking noise of his neck Joey figured that he was dead. Edward slowly got up, dusting himself off.

"That was anti-climactic," Kami laughed "he was so weak for a victim of the Cerberus."

"Cerberus?" Joey asked.

"The Cerberus project," Kami told them "will basically make anyone it comes in contact with extremely aggressive."

"He seemed pretty calm," Eric pointed out.

"He somehow, managed to control it I guess," Edward said "that would have just made him stronger and faster."

Joey looked at the '_Rose'_ and the katana. The group looked at him weird, he held the katana to the revolver and that same white light fused the two weapons together. The revolver's handle was no longer curved, it came out at a slight angle, the trigger and revolving piece were now much bigger and the blade was now attached to the spot where the laser sight used to be, the roses were still on the gun. He now had a gunblade, the weapon looked very similiar to one that he had back at the shop. That one was just for show though, this one could rip through just about anything. He noticed that hed didn't have a sheath for it. _"You don't have to carry it, you can summon it whenever you want." _ The weapon disappeared.

"What was that," Edward asked surprised. Joey explained everything that happened in the building with the kid. "Now it all makes sense, except this shouldn't be physically possible."

"Neither should any of this." Joey said. "But it's happening." They left the building and started to head for the school.

Chapter 5

Cire hung up the phone and went down stairs to the armory, he found his tactical gear and grabbed Will's gear to. M had told him to get ready and bring the stuff to the chopper, Will could get ready once they were in the air. He decided to radio Edward.

"Edward," Cire said into the radio.

"Cire," Edward came in clearly "did you get the chopper?"

"Yeah," Cire "we're just waiting for Will."

"Ok," Edward said relived "we're almost at the school."

"Once you get there hold your ground."

"Yes sir," Edward laughed.

Cire cut the transmission and walked back to the elevator, he went up to the helipad and waited for the other two.

Chapter 6

Joey could see the school, he ran toward the school and the rest of them followed. The school was large and probably full of carriers. He suddenly thought this might be bad idea. He scoped in on the school from a fair distance. A carrier was in front of the school. He fired and it dropped, they continued running foward and he pulled the bolt back. Once they got into the school yard they climbed up onto the roof. Joey set up his rifle on the roof. He looked out and realized that every zombie must have been converging on the school. They were running toward them and Joey had no choice but to fire on them. Edward joined him while Eric and Kami made sure none of them got on the roof. Joey went from zombie to zombie, firing into there chests or heads. Joey looked out of his scope and noticed a riot size group humans with clubs, bats, shovels and just about anything else they could get their hands on. They violently smashed and hit the zombies. It was like a war, according to the way Kami and Edward explained it they were probably victims of the Cerberus. The zombie mob got bigger but even when bit they didn't go down. It seemed that they just got stronger, some of them began to mutate.

"Damn it," Edward whispered, "Guys if they mutate any more they'll kill off the carriers and come for us. I don't think we could fight that." Joey looked back and noticed some of them had begun growing extra limbs and other things. Some had huge tumor like hearts and other organs. One beast had a protruding kidney and Edward shot straight through it with a .50 calibur bullet. It ripped a hole through the creature and sent it to its knees. A shot to the head put it down.

"I guess we just fight them until the evac chopper gets here," Kami noted, she began to fire into the crowd with the two 9mm hand guns and Eric saw some carriers trying to get on the roof, he fired at them with his shotgun. Edward stood up and Crow went into her human form.

"Some of these are bound to be Chimera." Crow smiled, the blades in her feet and arms were showing again. Joey couldn't help but notice her beauty even in a fight, it made him miss Stephanie even more. He stood up and removed his bag, he put his hand out and the gunblade appeared in his hand. Crow's wings now came out and she dropped down into the crowd. Edward's back now had something moving under it. Two large beautiful raven wings now came out of his back. He followed Crow down into the battle, Joey jumped down off of the roof and cut the first carrier he saw. He turned and spun the sword around his back cutting two more to his left. He aimed the sight at a carrier and pulled the trigger, the carrier was hit by a small explosion.

Eric saw a carrier running up behind Kami and he shot it with his 9mm. It fell back and he smiled. He turned back to the ladder and shot a carrier coming up it.

Kami her pistols as a carrier jumped at her, she threw a shurieken into its head and it fell back. She saw more of them jumping and she shot them with the 9mm. She dropped the empty guns. "I'm out," She yelled pulling out a dagger and the shurieken.

Edward punched a carrier, breaking its neck. His arm now began to grow claws and he cut and ripped at the zombies around him. He looked for Crow who seemed to be doing ok. Her wings were much smaller than his but he found it cute. He spun and hit several carriers with his wings. He saw Joey cut down two more carriers and hoped this wasn't the last time he watched the boy fight. He pulled out his katana and jumped to Joey's side.

"How you doin' kid," he asked.

"Fine," Joey said cutting through another zombie.

"Let's make this more interesting," Edward proposed "Starting now whoever gets the most kills wins."

"You're on," Joey said confidently. Joey looked at Eric who went into the messanger bag for more shotgun shells and noticed a small suitcase inside. He took it out and threw it to Joey. He caught it and opened, he turned the key inside and threw it into the crowd. "Get down," Joey yelled to Edward and Crow who flew upwards and toward the school. Joey shot a few carriers and then ran back inside the school. The bomb exploded and Edward's jaw dropped. "I'd say that was a good 152." Joey laughed as the crowd was now scattered and broken from the blast. More carriers were still coming and Joey went back to cutting them all down. He heard gunshots above him, he looked up. A guy was standing on a building in front of the school; he held two Desert Eagles and had a katanas on his waist and a small knife on his back. He also had a 416 rifle on his back. He was wearing a long black coat, he pushed his coat back and jumped down off of the building. He threw the coat off revealing a black collared shirt with a harness that held two Glock 18's on his waist. His back was turned to Joey. He turned and revealed a gas mask, Joey slashed in an upward motion causing him to drop his Desert Eagles. Joey jumped up as the man flew upwards. Joey was now above him. He thrust the blade several times downward, pulling the trigger each time. Explosions came from the barrel with every strike. The man hit the ground hard. The gunblade disappeared and Joey grabbed a Desert Eagle off of the ground and some clips he found on the man's belt.

Chapter 7

"Move to the hallway," Joey called to his friends, he pointed to a set of double doors to their right. Edward reached the door first and he shoved it open. Eric ran inside while pulling Kami behind him. Crow followed and Joey entered in last. He closed the door and Edward found a chain in an open janitors closet. He wrapped the chain around the doors handles and locked with a padlock. Joey looked around the hallway and saw rows of lockers that reminded him of his high school.

"Let's go this way guys," Edward said walking down the hallway, the others followed. Joey watched the window as the zombies pounded on it. The glass slightly cracked but didn't break. Joey walked away from the door and toward the other end of the hall. He heard a large crashing noise behind him. The double doors came flying into the hallway, one door bounced off of the wall and the other kept flying forward. Zombies came running into the hallway, Joey brought the desert eagle up and fired into his attackers. Several of the carriers dropped with one hand. Joey looked around the zombies and saw the man from earlier. The man unsheathed his katana and cut into several of the zombies in front of him. He now stood in front of him and Joey summoned the gunlade and jumped back. He lifted it into the air and it began to glow red, fire formed around it and it grew in size. It now stuck through the roof and he brought it down, it cut through the ceiling and it hit the ground. A huge funnel shaped explosion that destroyed the portion of the school that it hit. All that was left was debris and pieces of metal. Joey turned around and prepared to leave. The man was behind him the whole time. His mask was gone and Joey noticed he had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. He knew this kid, he threw the desert eagle to him and the kid reloaded it.

"Andrew?" Joey asked, the kid pulled down his black bandana and nodded. A carrier was about to bite the kid when a spike stabbed through its head. The spike was coming out of his shoulder. It receded and Joey backed away and looked behind Andrew more caarriers were running toward them. Andrew grabbed Joey and slid him down the hallway. Joey aimed the gunblade and fired at the carriers as he slid backwards. He hit the wall and stood up. Andrew was already at the back of the hall with him. He placed his hand against the wall and spikes stabbed through every angle of the hallway in front of them. Andrew walked out of the same door as Edward and the others had exited, Joey followed.

Chapter 8

"Keep it steady," Cire said looking down at the city in front of them. He felt bad considering that the school was in the middle of the infection. He saw a large red pillar coming out of one of the buildings. It disappeared and was followed by a large explosion near the same area. He looked into the courtyard of the school. Edward was standing on a table with Crow and Kami, there was one more person with them as well. M opened the door and dropped a rope ladder out of the helicopter. It bounced in front of Edward like a fishing line. The first person up the rope was the unknown kid that was with Edward. Cire assumed it was Eric from his size. Kami and Crow followed him. Cire saw Edward look to the destroyed hallway and saw that he was watching two more people coming out of it.

"We have a problem." Crow yelled as Eric got to the top of the ladder.

"What is it?" M said flipping his hair out of his eyes.

"A chimera," Crow said "a large one, maybe a queen." M looked down at Edward who was watching a hill behind the school. Everyone was in the chopper and M jumped out.

Joey looked up and saw as the blonde haired man jump out of the helicopter. Edward smiled as the man landed next to him. Andrew walked up to them slowly. He shook the blonde's hand and turned to Joey.

"Joey," Edward started, he was looking at the hill again, "this is my older brother, M, he runs Rizen when I am away like this."

"Hello," Joey said shaking his hand, "I am Joey Wolf, I used to help maintain a gun shop in California before this whole thing happened."

"How old are you?" M asked.

"Fifteen," Joey answered.

"I see," M said "so you're the gunsmith that the government hired at the start of the war."

"Yes," Joey frowned; he had just realized that he had caused virtually every gun related death in this war. Now he remembered why he watched the news every day. He would see little kids dead, their parents lying next to them, the causes were bullet wounds in the chest. Joey assumed that most of these guns probably came from him.

"Do you recognize this?" M asked him holding up a small .32 caliber revolver with five chambers; it was gold plated.

"Yes," Joey knew this gun, it was ordered by an unknown costumer. It would be silent but the bullets were destructive. They were glass tipped and the buyer said that he would fill them.

"Wait," Edward interrupted, "You made my brother's favorite gun."

"I guess," Joey was going to say something else when the ground began to shake. Joey summoned his gunblade and pulled out EZ's 9mm. M brought his gun up and aimed it at the hill. Two large legs came over the hill and were followed by a large body that had six more legs and eight tentacles coming from its back. The under belly seemed to have eggs on it and when Joey finally acknowledged the face he saw that it had a crown like arrangement of spikes and eight eyes. Its mouth had four large fangs with several rows of teeth underneath it.

"What is that thing?" Joey asked, he was afraid but not surprised, after everything he had seen nothing surprised him at this point, except Andrew.

"That is a queen." Edward and M said in unison as they began to shoot at its face. Its tentacles hit Edward's bullets away but M's broke and splattered onto them. They melted and the creature screamed in pain.

"M is the only non-chimera to ever kill a chimera Crowley clone like the one we fought at the hospital." Edward told Joey, "But can he kill a queen?" As if to answer his question M smiled and from underneath his long sleeveless green trench coat a large black scorpion tail appeared. It whipped around as M reloaded his gun. The queen lunged at Joey and he cut its upper right fang as he dodged. M was now on its back, his tail was still whipping until he got to the creatures head. It stiffened as he flipped forward, he stabbed it into the creature's mouth and it caught in the creatures gums. The creature stumbled back when M pulled his tail out. He stabbed it again in its leg and stayed there until it fell down.

After it was dead from the poison he had injected into it his tail receded. He grabbed onto the ladder and Edward followed. Andrew grabbed on and began to climb, Joey held onto it as it was lifted upward. Once he was inside the chopper he introduced himself to Cire and Will. He fell asleep on the floor of the helicopter knowing that he had finally escaped the infection.

After his nap he had woken up. It was almost sunrise and he could see the city; it was floating above the rest of the world. The helicopter landed and Edward showed Joey a temporary room he could stay in. Joey looked around the room. It seemed familiar to some pictures Stephanie had sent him while they were apart. He decided he was too tired to think about it.

Stephanie walked into her room and noticed a lump in her bed. _"Who in the world?"_ She thought to herself. She pulled the blanket back and noticed a familiar face, it was him. She looked to the dresser and saw his hat. She lie next to him and put her arms around him. Her angel was finally in her arms again.


End file.
